The Orange County Board of Supervisors has announced the names of the 9 finalists to replace Mike Carona as Sheriff according to the Los Angeles Times.
They are:
Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson, former OCSD Lt. Bill Hunt, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Ralph Martin, Beau Babka, undersheriff of the Salt Lake County, Utah sheriff’s office, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams, San Bernardino County Undersheriff Richard Beemer, Anaheim Deputy Police Chief Craig Hunter, and Sandra Hutchens, retired division chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The BOS plans to make the final decision and appoint a new Sheriff in June.
I encourage everyone to look further. Anaheim has a sizeable jail, with pay-to-stay, ICE agents, Parole contract, Video arraignment and correctional officers. They book over 6,000 people each year.
When Hunter commanded the 175 bed jail he inherited a similar nightmare as OCSD and he turned it around. Although not as large as a county jail, the state regulations are the same everywhere. He even built a small jail (10 cells) at Disney Station and all in compliance with Title 15 and 24. Ask anyone who worked under Hunter’s command in the jail and you will learn about true leadership and progressive change.
OCSD has plenty of jail experts who are just waiting to get behind a new progressive leader like Chief Hunter.
I encourage the BOS to seriously look at Sandra Hutchens as the next OC Sheriff-Coroner. She is eminently qualified and has vast experience managing a large jail operation which is the primary problem with the OCSD.
She is a true leader with integrity and she is willing to make the changes so desperately needed at OCSD.